Brown on Trade Visit to India

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Ronald Brown and top American executives began a weeklong visit to India on Sunday to promote economic reforms and Indo-U.S. trade.

But Brown immediately encountered some of the resistance that India’s economic reforms face when the leader of the country’s only Communist state turned down an invitation to celebrate a major deal with U.S.-based investors, sources said.

Brown praised India’s reforms, which are opening its economy and allowing the poor nation’s industries, exports and foreign investment to grow rapidly.

In three years, the country’s foreign exchange reserves have mushroomed from $1 billion to $20 billion, and the Bombay stock exchange has boomed, thanks to Western investment.

But like many other Western officials visiting India to promote trade, Brown also urged Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao to speed up the reforms.

Among the sought-after reforms are lowering tariffs and taxation, closing bankrupt state-owned enterprises and changing laws that make it nearly impossible for companies to fire or lay off workers.